Thursday Things: Pre-Fireworks Edition
3 July 2025. Vol 7 No 27. By Dan McGirt. #308
Thursday Things is here! This week we head into the Independence Day holiday with a blast.
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Patriotic pup! Photo by Camylla Battani on Unsplash
Happy Independence Day!
Yes, America’s birthday is not until tomorrow, but we hope that many Happy Subscribers are already headed into the holiday weekend! So we won’t demand too much of your time today.
Wherever you are this 4th of July, I hope there are awesome fireworks — though maybe not as awesome as the display in our one item below.
Big Bay Boom
The Big Baby Boom is an annual Independence Day celebration featuring fireworks over the San Diego harbor.
In 2012, attendees got a much bigger bay boom than they were expecting when a computer glitch caused approximately 7,000 fireworks, intended for a 17-minute show to go off all at once:
This video of the mishap has been viewed more than 11 million times on YouTube.
San Diego fireworks ignite en masse, disappointing spectators (Were they, though?)
Big Bay Boom: Videos 2012 (Video from another angle here)
There is even An Oral History of the Great San Diego Fireworks Fail of 2012
Frailey: Suddenly everything was lit up on all four barges in a way that none of us had ever seen before. I watched it for a few minutes and thought, “This is the strangest pre-show I’ve ever seen.” None of this was discussed at any of the meetings.
Crouch: When that thing went off like that, it scared the crap out of me. You have to imagine this barge: 135 feet long, 45 feet wide. It’s heavy. The barge probably jumped a good six inches. The tug jumped. I ducked. Everything shook.
Frailey: This was like every grand finale you’ve ever heard, in the room with you. Absolute cacophony.
Crouch: It reminded me of Vietnam. It was a lot of gun powder and sulfur.
Read the whole thing at the link!
Coming Next Week…
We’ve got something big and different planned for next week’s edition, as author Jennifer Oko joins us for the first ever Thursday Things Interview. Don’t miss it!
Your homework assignment is to read her new novel Just Emilia [Paperback | Kindle] and join us next Thursday. See you then!
This week’s edition is brought to you by Dan’s Advice: Take control of your digital life.
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